Innovative Distance Education University

Capella University won a top award for innovation in distance education. Read the full report below.

Capella University Wins Top Award

School Choice

According to Bristol (2006):

Never has any political race in South Carolina been as pure a referendum on a controversial issue as the Supt. Of Education race is today. The two leading candidates, Karen Floyd and Bob Staton, represent polar opposite positions on the issue of school choice. Staton is opposed, and has been endorsed by the state branch of the National Education Association. Floyd “strongly supports” public and private school choice, and has been strongly supported by like-minded groups.

This race allows voters a chance to gain the type of educational system they desire. Races of this type:

1. promote public discourse
   
2. an analysis of possible school systems
   
3. voters to commit to a candidate and consequently a decision regarding the issue.
   

This is democracy in action.

Whether one is for school choice or against it is not the issue here, only the benefit. The greater good is the ongoing promotion of democratic principles through a voting cycle that hinges on a critical issue. All participants are winners regardless of the outcome.

If more races in other regions throughout the country were to address similar controversial issues, the entire process would benefit those regions. If the issues involved educational systems, schools would certainly improve.

Resource

Bristol (2006) Case Closed, as of 7 p.m. Tonight. SCHeadlines. Online Resource Accessed on June 13th, 2006 at: http://www.scheadlines.com/article.asp?colid=5128.

Technology in High Schools

High schools have dramatically changed over the years. In the 80's, Apple IIe and Radioshack TRS-80 were very popular at the high school level. Basic programming was taught and logic was learned. Those simple days are long gone.

Now, technology has improved by leaps and bounds. Students in Michigan high schools are mandated to learn via distance education (MVU, 2006). High school students in Illinois have benefited from integrated courses that have integrated technology with the use of PDAs (Brown, 2001). It's a much different world for high school students.

Students are engaged and are trained to enter into a competitive, technological world. Students are no longer required to listen to boring lectures in effective schools. Students in these schools are trained how to use technology to think and solve real-world problems.

It is no wonder that online distance education programs are now available to high school students. Students who take online courses not only learn how to be independent learners, but their education is learner-centered and relevant.

To learn more about how high school students can pursue online distance education courses, see Littlefield (2006). She created a number of references for About.com, which can make the process of understanding and acting on high school online courses easy to do.

Resources

Brown (2001) Handhelds in the Classroom. Education World. Online Resource Accessed on June 5th, 2006 at: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech083.shtml.

Littlefield (2006) Distance Learning. About.com. Online Resource Accessed on June 5th, 2006 at: http://distancelearn.about.com/od/virtualhighschools/.

MVU (2006) Michigan First State to Require Online Learning. Online Resource Accessed on June 5th, 2006 at: http://www.mivhs.org/upload_2/MIOnlineRequirment42106.pdf [PDF].